About Riza

Our vision is to help people become their best selves through deeper relationships and connection.

Why Strength-Based

See the best, nurture the rest

Riza uses strength-based tools to develop skills and patterns by emphasizing what works—rather than what doesn’t. We stay rooted in reality and we use the power of self-efficacy to help you build character and create lasting change.

As a mentor, you know the power of showing up and believing in someone’s potential. Social science shows that strength-based interventions are more effective than ones that focus on what’s wrong with individuals and their families. Riza’s tools provide authentic support and accountability, leading to higher levels of purpose, self-control, and sustained life success. Both mentors and mentees report higher satisfaction and closer connectedness.

Better starts together—with you.

Download Riza for free

Our Story

Let’s be honest: life can be hard. Really hard.

Nearly 59 million Americans struggle with mental health and other challenges—and many suffer alone. More than half of us are isolated and lonely.

But, as some of you know, there’s a special kind of hard for those who desperately want to help the people we love most, but can’t.

Our founder, Cynthia King-Guffey, knew that pain. She loved her children more than anything, but when things got tough, she didn’t know how to help. To make things worse, the systems she turned to viewed her family members through a narrow medical lens—focused on deficits instead of seeing their strengths.

The kind of support they were searching for—strength-based, personal, solution-focused, innovative, and rooted in community—just didn’t exist.

So Cynthia decided to build it.

Inspired by love and guided by her training as a family systems therapist and disciple of the positive youth development movement, Cynthia set out to create tools that help people show up better for those they care about—rooted in science, best practices, and deep human connection.

She wasn’t alone. Innovators and contributors from across disciplines joined the mission. Friends of the Children became a key partner. App designers, technologists, brand experts, social researchers, business folks, and others shared their gifts, generously and to great effect. They failed forward, learned constantly, and never let go of the vision.

After an exhilarating rebrand and a clear decision to focus on mentoring relationships, this small but mighty team is proud to introduce you to the mobile app, Riza.

We really do believe that better starts together.